Everyone is destined to die, some are heavier than Mount Tai, and some are lighter than a feather. "To die for the interests of the people is more important than Mount Taishan." Chairman Mao's speech at the memorial service for Comrade Zhang Side on September 8, 1944.

Everyone is destined to die, some are heavier than Mount Tai, and some are lighter than a feather. "To die for the interests of the people is more important than Mount Taishan." Chairman Mao's speech at the memorial service for Comrade Zhang Side on September 8, 1944. He highly praised Comrade Zhang Side for his selfless and courageous dedication to the revolution and the interests of the people. He also quoted a poem by Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty: "Everyone is destined to die, and it may be heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than a feather." To die for the interests of the people is heavier than Mount Tai; to work for the fascists, to exploit the people and oppress the people. When a person of the people dies, he is lighter than a feather. Comrade Zhang Side died for the interests of the people, and his death was heavier than Mount Tai. Zhang Side’s thoughts and morals, pursuit of ideals, and footprints of struggle. The spirit of hard work, hard work, dedication, and hard work for the people. From a poor child to an ordinary soldier, he experienced an ordinary life and the fine tradition of thinking about others at all times became a role model for learning.

Zhang Side joined the production team organized by the central government and served as deputy squad leader at the time. Come to the Ansai County production farm and participate in charcoal burning work. In order to quickly solve the heating problem, he carefully researched the technology of burning good charcoal and improved the output and quality. Lead the soldiers to cut down trees, build kilns, burn kilns, and leave kilns in a series of tasks. Living in the kiln, working hard day and night, working hard, sweating profusely, and fighting continuously, in three months it was shipped to Yan'an 80,000 jins charcoal , which is 70 miles away. On September 5, 1944, it was raining, and Zhang Side led the soldiers to dig and build a new kiln. During construction, the roof of the kiln suddenly collapsed. Seeing this, Zhang Side hurriedly pushed his comrades out of the kiln. In order to save his comrades, Zhang Side was pinned underneath by the collapsed earth. He died gloriously at the age of 29.

When Chairman Mao found out, he ordered Comrade Zhang Side's body to be taken out of the soil, washed, put on new clothes, and buried in a good coffin. On the morning of September 8, more than 1,000 people from the central government agencies and the Central Guard Corps held a memorial service for Comrade Zhang Side at the playground at Mizokou, Zaoyuan, Yan'an. Chairman Mao attended the memorial service and wrote on the wreath "Salute to Comrade Zhang Side who sacrificed his life for the interests of the people" and delivered a speech of "Serve the People" to praise Comrade Zhang Side. The revolutionary spirit of serving the people.

Zhang Side was born on April 19, 1915, in Yilong County, Sichuan Province. The family is poor and life is difficult. His father works for the landlord and wanders in other places. When his seriously ill mother gave birth to him, the family had no rice to cook. Dragging his heavy body to a neighbor's house, he borrowed some rice and pounded it to feed him. His mother named him Guwazi. When Guwazi was just 7 months old, her seriously ill mother passed away. She lived with her aunt. At the age of 6, she could collect firewood, cut grass, and help her aunt with housework. In 1933, when the Fourth Red Army liberated Yilong County, he was the first to join the Young Pioneers and became the captain. He was awarded a prize for raising food for the Red Army and became a member of the Communist Youth League. Follow the Red Army to fight north and south, fighting bravely against the enemy. He served as a communications officer in the 2nd Battalion of the Independent Regiment. He achieved meritorious service in the Waziyao Battle and attended Lenin Elementary School. After graduation, he was transferred to the Provincial Military Region Headquarters as a communications officer. Joined the Communist Party of China and served as squad leader of the Central Guard Corps and bodyguard of Chairman Mao. In the battle against the six-pronged siege, he was wounded twice, but still charged into the battle, bravely killed the enemy, and captured two enemy machine guns.

On the Long March, we shared the hardships with the soldiers, united as one, climbed the snow-capped mountains, and crossed the grassland. With tenacious spirit, he traveled to the snowy mountains and grasslands twice to participate in the "Tasting Hundreds of Herbs" mission. There are weeds everywhere, some poisonous, some not poisonous, some edible and some inedible. Some taste good but are poisonous; some taste bad but are not poisonous. In order to find non-poisonous grass for the Red Army to satisfy their hunger, he was always the first to taste the grass without fear of being poisoned. When he found edible grass, he told his comrades first. Once, the troops came to a swamp with abundant water and grass. There was a piece of wild grass that looked a bit like wild radish . After a soldier discovered it, he ran over to eat it. Zhang Side hurried over, grabbed the wild radish in his hand, put it in his mouth and tasted it slowly. Feeling dizzy, he hurriedly asked the soldiers to tell the troops that the grass could not be eaten. At this time, he had a stomachache and was weak. He was unconscious for a long time before he woke up.When the troops came to northern Shaanxi, because there was little food, Zhang Side always put down his bowl to fetch water when he was half full, and gave the food to his comrades who were young and capable, had a lot of food and worked hard. As time passed, the soldiers discovered his noble spirit and respected him even more. Sometimes he would go to the river to catch small fish and grill them for the soldiers to eat, but he was reluctant to eat them. The soldiers felt that their squad leader was so kind to them, and they all shed tears of excitement. When a danger occurred when building the auditorium in Yangjialing, Zhang Side carried it on his shoulders and let Chairman Mao who was passing by see him and praise him.